


Heart Land

by rougefox



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Dark, Domestic Violence, F/M, I promise, Middle Class, Ramsay is his own warning, there will be a plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-10-22 18:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10703079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rougefox/pseuds/rougefox
Summary: A community bands together to help one of their own. Even if that means removing someone.





	1. Arya

**Author's Note:**

> So this is more gritty realistic than I am used to writing. This piece isn't going to be cute like the You Can't Go Home Series, but hopefully people will stick with it.
> 
> There will be plot, I promise.

_Homemade burgers_

_Three bedrooms, two bathrooms_

_“Just waiting for the part to come in, honey”_

 

Arya met Gendry at a birthday party backyard BBQ. It was one of those chance meetings  that started when she snuck out to the alley to have a quick smoke before realizing she left her lighter on the table next to the bowl of store brand potato salad after helping light the citronella candles. He had been hiding by the trash cans, looking socially awkward and dashing at the same time in his black leather jacket. His zippo had been engraved with the logo of a famous motorcycle company and he had invited her to go for a ride on the one he had refurbished.

 

 

When he picked her up from her apartment building, she questioned whether or not he had actually finished the project.  The amount of rust on the tail pipe and the cracked vinyl on the seat that pinched her through her jeans pointed to “No”.

 

 

The bike had broken down an hour down the road. They ended up spending the evening chatting over cheese fries and milk shakes in a nearby diner while awaiting a tow. She married him two years later, after she finished her nursing degree and he was made partner at Donderrian’s Body Shop.

   


They moved into a house in a decent neighborhood by the General Hospital so she could walk home after her graveyard shift at the Emergency Room. Their home was solidly built, but old enough to need work. Arya got new kitchen cabinets in exchange for parking the minivan on the street so Gendry could fill the detached garage with an old muscle car he planned on fixing up.

 

 

Apparently “fixing up” meant standing around the garage with a case of beer split between Sandor, Bronn and Jon while arguing sports and swapping war stories under the watchful eye of posters depicting almost nude women reclining on sports cars.

 

 

Arya reasoned at least Gendry wasn’t under her feet.

 


	2. Sansa

_Ribbons, Trophies and full color spreads in the Yearbook_

_Seeing the world through a mountain of cardboard boxes_

_Nesting and after school activities_

 

 

 

Sansa was always the one who was going to do big things with her life.

 

 

Head cheerleader, camp counselor, Girl Scout Cadet, sang in the church choir, assistant Sunday school teacher, and a full ride scholarship to a top college.

 

 

Then (according to the extended family in hushed conversations over sherry at family gatherings) Marine Sargent Sandor Clegane walked into her life and changed everything.

 

 

They met on military appreciation night at bar frequented by university students. She had been wearing tight jeans and a low cut blouse. He had sported cargo pants and a shirt that showed off why he held the fitness awards on base five years in a row.

 

 

He had cheered when she sang karaoke and he had shown her how to play pool. Later she surprised herself by letting him feel her up while making out after last call.

 

 

There was just something about his hands that made her want him to touch her everywhere.

 

 

Sansa kept at her schooling, but stopped going to her sorority meetings and excused herself from assisting with the local youth group. She moved out of her childhood bedroom and rented a tiny apartment by the base.

 

 

When Sandor deployed, they Skyped as much as possible. Sometimes she would stay up till three in the morning and sleeping through class the next day.

 

 

The day after she took the LSATS, Sandor Clegane presented her with a gold ring with a big shiny stone that probably sucked up much of his deployment pay.

 

 

Now instead of traveling the world as a human rights attorney or diplomat, Sansa saw the world one Marine Camp and Navy base at a time. She worked at the Base Exchange in Pentos, taught kindergarten in Myr, sold makeup door to door in Lorath.

 

 

Sansa saw the wonders of the world as much as one can moving every two years with a baby on her hip, a toddler on her skirts and one in her belly.

 

 

Sansa never complained, though. Even now when asked when she would be getting around to going to law school, she shakes her head causing her copper curls to bounce then makes an excuse about how busy she is with the children.


	3. Sandor

_Legal guardians_

_“Worth the $300 repair bill”_

_Sunrise rituals_

 

 

Sandor Clegane graduated high school a year early. The day he picked up his diploma, he rode his bike to the local Marine recruiting office. He marched in, slammed his diploma on the front desk, and requested they send him out on the next bus to boot camp.

 

 

He found out the hard way that there were assessments and background checks to be had, tests of health and intelligence. Even with the signed letter from his caseworker stating he could enlist before his eighteenth birthday, his age was still a factor to be considered.

 

 

Sandor was so mad he almost told the office where they could stick their policies and paperwork. But instead he swallowed his pride and went back to the youth shelter he had lived in since the good people at child protective services took him away from his drunk father and brother that beat the legal system on a technicality. For six weeks, he showed up at the recruitment office and sat in a chair by the door in hopes that they would expedite his application just to get rid of him.

 

  
Then the terrorist attacks on the settlements in the Red Waste made everything speed up. The recruiters started looking at his broad shoulders and heavy frame, then ignoring the scars from years in an abusive home. Sandor was finally shipped out to boot camp three months before his birthday. Six months later he found himself working with the K9 unit outside Vaes Tolorro.

 

 

Sandor climbed the ranks, kissed the right ass and refused to let his body go soft. His only weakness was drink and it never accord to him to stop till he met the tall red head while out with his fellow devil dogs one night after duty hours. Sansa Stark sang like a bird and rubbed her cute little bottom against him as he taught her to line up a corner shot on the pool table. Later, he was shocked when she kissed him and let him up her shirt, then a few months later into her pants on the hood of his Dodge Challenger. After the resulting car repair bill they decided since he couldn’t move off base, she would get a place of her own.

 

 

He deployed, but Sansa wrote him letters and flashed him when they Skyped. When he returned from the god awful desert, Sandor enlisted Sansa’s childhood friend Jeyne Poole to help him pick out a ring and make her his wife.

 

 

A decade later Sandor could tell the years of moving and foreign countries weighted on his pretty wife. So when a recruitment position became available in her home town, he jumped at it. He knew this job would stall his advancement, but he only had five years left till retirement and the duties were simple enough. To Sansa’s joy they finally settled in a house two blocks away from her sister and five miles down the street from his old friend Bronn and his wife, Margery.

 

 

Now Sandor’s home for dinner and up with the children at breakfast. He coaches pee-wee football in the fall, baseball in the summer and runs Cub Scouts year round. He never mentions this, but his favorite time of the week is getting up early on Saturdays to slice oranges and mix gallons of sport drinks. The silence in the house helps him mentally preparing himself to deal with the screaming children and melodramatic parents during that morning’s game.

 

After all the shit he had been through, this made him feel the most human.


	4. Bronn

_Should have known better with the local girls_

_Mc Mansions and Contracts_

_Frozen Waffles and inside voices_

 

Bronn met Margaery when he was stationed outside of Highgarden. He was warned that Reach girls were wicked and wild, so he took a chance on the brunette beauty that fell off the bar and into his lap one night. His wingman, Sandor ditched him early in the night to go Skype with his girl back in Winterfell, so Bronn decided to make the best of what was given to him.

 

A few months later Bronn discovered that “shotgun weddings” were a very real thing. Margaery’s family owned a huge chunk of the agricultural business in the Reach so her wedding was going to be fancy, even if her wedding dress had to be given a very specific hem line.

 

He had felt bad for Margaery when he told her they would have to move North. He had recently left the Marines and had taken up a position with the private foreign security company, The Second Sons. The money was quadruple what he had been making in the service but they insisted he needed to be close to one of their home offices for accountability reasons.

 

 _Winterfell or King’s Landing?_ He had asked her one night.

 

She had looked at him with her big brown eyes and replied; _Neither._

 

Bronn tried to make things right by buying his wife a nice big house in the suburbs. It had an in ground pool, large porch and a gourmet kitchen. Their girls could walk to school and she could drive to Winterfell for shopping when she felt like it.

 

Unfortunately, she would spend most of the time in that big, beautiful house by herself. Bronn was under contract and as such, he went where they sent him.

 

 _Don’t ask me no questions and I won’t tell you no lies_ , he had once told her in jest when she had asked how his “business trip” had been.

 

Margaery had not found this very amusing.

 

Bronn spent the rest of the evening with his daughters as to give his wife a much needed break in hopes of making up for his smart mouth.

 

He couldn’t tell her what he did. It wasn’t just the nondisclosure agreement; most of what he did was boring armed escort gigs, dragging some fat arsed business man around the fucking Red Waste or the more even fucking unagreeable Slavers Bay to wheel and deal for oil, natural gas or somethings better left unsaid. It was what he was sent to do on his own or with a small group of men under the cover of darkness that he would never share with his pretty wife.

 

It was these trips that kept him away from his family for so long and it killed him to not be with his girls.

 

Margaery put on a brave face, but fell into a depression when her friends from the Reach stopped returning her texts and refusing her calls. 

 

So when Sandor informed him that he was moving into a neighborhood down the road, Bronn immediately insisted Margaery go mingle with his friend’s wife.

 

To his joy, she fell into stride with the other women; Sansa, Dany, Arya and Jeyne all welcomed her with open arms.

 

Now her life revolved around PTA meetings and play dates, dance lessons, and seasonal party planning. He even loves that she goes to a “book club” with her new friends once every two weeks; even though he usually gets a phone call at three am to come pick her up and has to cook breakfast for his daughters the next morning because “Mommy has a headache”.


	5. Jon

_“You might feel a little sting”_

_The blood of kings_

_Taking the blue_

 

Jon met Dany while he was in Essos with the Peace Corps. They were both working the human rights campaign in Slavers Bay when he cut himself and she had to give him a tetanus booster. Jon loved her the second he saw her, she on the other hand was more wrapped up in the importance of their mission than looking for companionship. It wasn’t like Jon was looking for anyone, he was there to help the poor refugees from the recent wars in Meereen. 

 

In reality he had no idea why he was there, other than he need to leave the drama of his family.

 

Still, they kept in touch when they returned to Westeros. She came from King’s Landing and had an old money family name (even though the money had been gone for several generations due to mismanagement and gambling debts on behalf of her ancestors). Jon on the other hand had to be raised by his uncle outside of Winterfell due to his mom dying young after his father ran off.

 

Dany swayed her father to give her permission to marry by doing an ancestry search that proved that Jon’s family had an old and respectable  lineage. The old man was crazy enough to buy it and they wed in a very religious ceremony in the oldest Sept in Westeros.

 

When Jon told her he didn’t want to stay in Kings Landing and was thinking of taking a police officer job in the suburbs of his home town his new wife had enthusiastically agreed to move.

 

Dany made their house a home and Jon graduated at the top of his class from police training.

 

Now he patrols the neighborhoods of his friends and family; watching, waiting and keeping them safe (sometimes from themselves).


	6. Daenerys

 

_Downgrading isn’t degrading_

 

_Empty nest_

 

_Mother of all who need it_

 

 

 

Dany was always raised to take pride in her family name. _You are the blood of the dragon, never forget that_ , he brother had snarled at her since she could remember. She always wondered what use was hanging on to the past so fervently when there was nothing left of their family’s glory but a name?

 

 

She wanted to do more with her life, which is why she joined the Peace Corps right out of college. Dany’s gift for languages served her well as she bounced around Slavers Bay helping refugees by handing out food and devices to purify water.

 

 

When Dany met Jon, she thought he was silly boy who knew just little enough to get himself in trouble. But he had a good heart and he was always there when she needed to vent.

 

 

They married in a ceremony they couldn’t afford, and then moved away from her family the first chance she got.

 

 

In the middle class suburbs of Winterfell, Dany made their little box house into a home. She painted the walls and hung pleasing art. She watched for sales and acquired good furniture at discounted prices. Thanks to YouTube she taught herself to cook, how to knit and how to sew. She made her own dresses and used coupons to stock their shelves.

 

 

Jon was making enough at the police station for them to live comfortably, so he didn’t understand her fervent saving.

 

 

The fact was she had grown up poor. There had always been money for drinks at the Palace and dinner at the latest restaurant, but it had all been on credit. Her father never considered an end to the family fortune and her brother felt to be a Targaryen meant to act like your money matched your name.

 

 

Dany didn’t want her children to lack for anything, so she made do and squirreled away what she could.

 

 

The glorious day came when the little blue plus appeared on several different pregnancy tests and Margaery put on a huge party at her house. Bronn and the men drank beer around the BBQ all the while teasing Jon on what it was like being a father. Dany and the women drank punch as they watched their children jump in the pool and splash each other. Dany rubbed her still flat belly and tried to imagine what it was going to be like to watch her little boy or girl frolic in the water with her friends.

 

 

She miscarried at 16 weeks. Then six months later they tried again and she lost that one to. After the third miscarriage the doctors ran every test their insurance would pay for. They determined that the losses were due to a genetic defect in her womb. They explained to her in words that she could not comprehend that her womb would never be able to hold a child past four months. There was nothing they could do, short of bankrupting them with expensive experimental treatments.

 

 

So much for the blood of the dragon.

 

 

Jon took her to Braavos for two weeks of romantic dinners and rides down the canels. When they return, she turned the room designated to be a nursery into a guest room.

 

 

They spent time talking about adopting, but in the end Dany went to work at a shelter for runaway youth. There her name means nothing, but her love speaks volumes.


	7. Margaery

_Jewel of Highgarden_

 

_Coffee mug full of wine_

 

_Pintrest, what a mess_

 

_  
_

Margaery Tyrell was the princess of her family.

 

 

 As the only girl, she had been coddled by her father, tutored by her grandmother and loved by many young men.

 

 

So, she wonders to herself sometimes how she ended up with a nobody like Bronn?

 

 

Well she knew the answer to that; she should have not had sex after her IUD came out and he should have worn a condom.

 

 

Her family was old money and old school, so when you get a girl with a big belly, you get to walk down the aisle.

 

 

Margaery did have her dream wedding, aside from not being able to drink anything more than a glass of champagne. She even got the military honor guard with the sabers and everything (although it would be a year before she forgave Sandor Clegane for smacking her on the ass with the flat of his sword, she didn’t care if it was traditional!).

 

 

Six months later she had a girl. Then the move came. Margaery didn’t want to go, she wanted her little girl to grow up like she had; surrounded by a huge family that would love, hold, and spoil her. But the Second Sons had two offices; Winterfell and King’s Landing. Margaery hated King’s Landing so Winterfell it was. A year later the next girl came and her family visited to make sure she was settled in. When they left she missed them. Her girlfriends from the Reach slowly cut her out of their social circles; what was the point of inviting her to do things if it was a 4 hour flight for her to visit?

 

 

Margaery had cried and wandered around her huge dream house with it’s in ground pool and gourmet kitchen feeling alone and wondering where she went wrong.

 

 

Then one day _, they_ happened.

 

 

 _They_ didn’t wear designer clothes.

 

 

 _They_ weren’t up to date with the latest fads.

 

 

 _They_ even didn’t care about the wine they drank.

 

 

“It’s the kind that comes in a bottle, although sometimes it comes in a box!” Arya Stark had declared when Margaery had inquired about the vintage the first time she attended their “book club”.

 

 

They weren’t her friends back in the Reach. But they invited her out to do things, even if it was just taking the kids to the park. They invited her over for dinner, even if it was just roast chicken and potatoes. They called her and returned her texts and leaned out the window to say hello if they drove past.

 

 

Margaery knew that her family had more money than her friends. They didn’t seem to care, but hospitality had always been part of her upbringing, so she decided for once not to spend money selfishly.

 

 

She volunteered to cook for the bake sales and lend her gourmet kitchen out to those who needed it. She joined the PTA, she joined the booster club and ran Girl Scouts.

 

 

Every birthday party, every celebration and every holiday Margaery would insist on having the gathering at her large house so the children could swim in the in ground pool and the grownups could enjoy cocktails on the porch.

 

 

Beautiful, perfect Margaery could never imagined how much fun it would be to be covered in frosting and blue food dye as she tried to recreate a cake she saw on Pintrest for the next birthday party.

 

 

Sometimes she failed, but her new friends where always there with a bottle (or a box) offering to help.


	8. Gendry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason I am posting to many chapters so fast is because I am about to leave for an adventure in Scotland and have no idea what my internet situation is going to be like.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed this so far!

_In the storage room next to the Budweiser_

 

_Every month somewhere new_

 

_Making the metal sing in your hands_

 

To say Gendry came from humble beginnings would be an understatement.

 

 

Some people are told that babies are made when a man and woman love each other very much so they do a “special hug”.

 

 

Gendry came into this world when a man and a woman were very drunk. And he owns the club. And there happened to be a stack of beer crates high enough for him to get leverage and wide enough for her to sit on.

 

 

He never knew who his father was, but that suited him fine. The type of a man who would impregnate a woman in the backroom of a club probably would not be the best parental material.

 

 

When his mom died Gendry bounced around for a while; group homes, foster parents, random relatives that would crop up out of nowhere and take him in for that sweet sweet government support check.

 

 

At the age of 16, he finally landed a job at Donderrian’s Body Shop as part of a youth skill training program. Beric and his employees treated him with respect and even gave him the back office as a place to sleep so he could get away from the latest set of foster parents.

 

 

Over the years Gendry learned how to repair every part of a car, salvage parts from the junk yard out back and deal with the angriest of customers.

 

 

He worked hard, and his talent became apparent to Beric. So he gave him a raise so he could move out of the back room and into a real apartment.

 

 

Gendry met his future wife, Arya, when Beric dragged him to some horrible birthday party for someone he never met.

 

 

They married after Beric decided he wanted Gendry around for good and made him a business partner. He finally felt part of a family, a brotherhood.

 

 

Gendry loves his job, his family and friends. He would do anything for them, they just need to ask.

 


	9. Jeyne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please heed the tags!! Trigger warning domestic violence!

 

_Prince Charming and a Castle in the Clouds_

 

 

 

_"That's just his sense of humor"_

 

 

 

_2 bedrooms 1 bath renter pays utilities no pets allowed_

 

 

 

Jeyne always wanted the fairytale romance.

 

 

She thought she had it when Ramsey Bolton walked into her life.

 

 

Even though he was the son of real estate developer Roose Bolton and his secretary, Ramsey had been given part of the family business to run and all the prestige that came with his last name.

 

 

He had told Jeyne she was beautiful. He had taken her on trips to King’s Landing and Dorne. When they were married, his father gave them the house up in the hills overlooking Winterfell.

 

 

The daughter of a hotel manager could not hope for someone better, Jeyne had reasoned.

 

 

Even when she had to laugh off the venomous remarks he spat at her in public

 

 

Or when she had to explain to observant friends she had fallen down the stairs

 

 

Or when she would awake every morning to find a knife on her bedside table.

 

 

Just a reminder of who was in charge.

 

 

It was when Ramsey struck their son so hard he knocked out two of his baby teeth did Jeyne find the strength to leave.

 

 

That night, when her husband left to go with his “boys”, Jeyne gathered up her son and walked the five miles to the nearest neighbor to called Sansa to come get her.

 

 

Sansa came to her childhood friend’s rescue with her giant devil dog husband who did not bother to conceal the gun on his hip.

 

 

In between her parents and her friends, Jeyne was able to secure a tiny apartment (close to the public school because Ramsey stopped paying for the private school when she left) and a job at her father’s hotel (as the Bolton family lawyer made it clear she would be getting nothing in the coming divorce because she had been too love sick to read the prenuptial agreement).

 

 

Thanks to the people in her life, Jeyne was able to scrape together the funds to hire a lawyer and find the strength to get a restraining order.

 

 

By fall Jeyne had a place to live, a job and her friends.

 

 

It seemed all was going to be well.

 

 

Till it wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where I leave you..... for now.
> 
> You can hate me, it's fine.


	10. Autumn of Our Discontent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this deals with domestic abuse. It's not graphic, but the topic is there.

A cold wind blew down from the north the day it was determined something had to be done about Ramsey Bolton.

 

 

How Jeyne made it to Arya’s door step was anyone’s guess. She had been invited to the little get together where the men gathered around Gendry’s unfinished restoration projects, the children gathered around the TV and the women gathered around the dining room table to drink a bottle (or box) of wine.

 

 

Jeyne had told everyone she had to work late, but had sent her son to Arya’s house after school .

 

 

The women gathered around her and tried to shield her son from the condition of his mother, but somehow he caught a glimpse.

 

 

Dany had grasped his arm to take him back in the den as his mother was given ice packs and choked out her story.

 

 

With all the solemnness of someone who had seen too much, Jeyne’s son turned to Dany and spoke; “My mom said the judge gave her a magic piece of paper to keep dad away from us. It didn’t work did it?”

 

 

Dany had held the boy to her chest for a long time before sitting him between the two Clegane boys in front of the TV.

 

 

When Dany returned to the kitchen, Sansa handed her a tissue, wrapped herself in her lumpy sweater jacket and stepped out the back door.

 

 

Arya peered out the window over the sink as her sister strode across the backyard and into the garage where the men sipped their beers and did nothing to the car. Even in tread bare warehouse store jeans and a poorly knitted sweater she looked regal and authoritative.

 

 

 

A few minutes later, Sansa marched out of the garage and back into the kitchen.

 

 

“Margaery and I are going to take Jeyne to the hospital,” she announced. “Dany, you look after the children. Arya, I need you to take care of the house.”

 

 

Arya opened her mouth to ask her sister what the hell she meant, but Sansa cut her off.

 

 

“The best thing to do for the children is give the illusion of normality. The men are outside, the TV is still on and we will be back shortly.”

 

 

Margaery cooed to Jeyne as Sansa fetched her keys then they helped her into the black SUV.

 

 

Dany wiped her face and looked at Arya with questioning eyes.

 

 

Arya sighed and turned the knob on her stove to preheat. She then pulled a bag of store brand potato chips out of the cupboard and shoved them at Dany with a gallon of off brand orange drink.

 

 

"Nothing is wrong," Arya breathed, the gravity of her roll sinking in. "I will make dinner for the children. You should make sure they are enjoying the movie."

 

 

Dany stood up straight. Her face stern and focused. She understood enough to know her place. After handing out chips and pouring orange drink she sat in the over stuffed arm chair, back straight, face impassive.

 

 

As she put the frozen chicken nuggets into the oven, headlights traveling up the alley behind the house caught Arya’s eye. She peered out the window over the sink to see two panel vans pull up to the garage. The drivers did not get out, but she did see people climb in and the vans sped off.

 

 

From the garage came a god awful noise and with wonder Arya witnessed her husband’s in progress car pull out and follow the vans.

 

 

_They know what they’re doing._

 

 

Arya turned away from the window and put a frozen pizza into the oven.

 

 

_This is what Sandor and Bronn do. It’s what they’re trained for....._

 

 

She went to the cupboard and pulled out the spicy sauce the men liked on their chicken and set it out on the counter.

 

 

_Jon knows the drill, he knows how to protect them, it’s what he does....._

 

 

Arya pulled the barely warm chicken nuggets out of the oven and arranged them on a tray with dip in the middle.

 

 

_Gendry knows what needs to be done afterward, how to get rid of anything left behind....  
_

 

 

Arya pulled a chair over to the frig and stood on it to reach the Sevenmas tins full of cookie cutters and her secret pack of cigarettes.

 

 

_Beric has that junk yard_

 

She jumped down and pushed the chair back under the table.

 

 

_And that car crusher....._

 

 

She was rummaging around in the junk drawer for the BBQ lighter when she heard the deceptively sweet voice of one of her twins call to her from the doorway.

 

 

"Mom!"

 

 

Arya spun around, hiding her pack behind her back.

 

 

"What are you doing in here?" she asked. "Go watch the movie with Mrs Snow!"

 

 

"I told her I was going to the bathroom," the little version of herself said while crossing her arms. "I smelled chicken nuggets!"

 

 

"They're for your father and the men outside," Arya retorted. "Now get! Back to the den! The pizza will be ready soon."

 

 

Her daughter rolled her eyes and wandered off.

 

 

Arya leaned against the counter and let her head fall back. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose.

 

 

 _Normal, Sansa said act normal_.

 

 

Sansa would know. She was the one who knew how to ask the right questions. Request the right paperwork. Knew right things to say.

 

 

Margaery is soothing, sweet and charming. She can wave that magic wand of an Visa Platinum card and get things done

 

 

Dany loves children. She’s good with them. She can calm them, heal them, make them feel safe.

 

 

And Arya?

 

 

She could appear normal, unobtrusive, smart, and honest on the surface.

 

 

But underneath she was cunning and ruthless.

 

 

And knew how to answer the wrong questions with the right answers. How to manipulate, how to hide.

 

 

No one suspected her. And that was why they left her in charge of the house.

 

 

No one would question her because they saw what they wanted; nurse, mom, middle class woman.

 

 

And with that she went to work.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always let me know if I need to fix anything


	11. Winter is Coming

Arya was impressed by the speed in which Roose Bolton reported his beloved bastard son missing.

 

 

Sheriff Jaime Lannister and his deputy Brienne Tarth were on her door step after the children left for school the next morning.

 

 

“Good morning ma’am,” Lannister said in his honey sweet Westerland accent. “May we come in?”

 

 

Arya nodded and lead the pair to the kitchen apologizing for the mess her children had left around the house on the way.

 

 

Situated at the dinner table with cups of instant coffee in hand, Sheriff Lannister informed Arya that they were investigating the whereabouts of Ramsey Bolton. He also made it very clear that her and her family were considered “persons of interest” to the investigation as Ramsey’s estranged wife had come to them for help the night he vanished.

 

 

“My sister and Mrs Blackwater took Jeyne to the emergency room. I was here with Mrs. Snow and our husbands were out in the garage,” Arya replied leaving her own coffee cooling on the green formica table top.

 

 

“May we see the garage?” Deputy Tarth asked, taking a polite sip of her coffee. “We spoke with Mrs Clegane and Mrs Blackwater already and they claimed their respected husbands where here all night working on your husband’s vehicle.”

 

 

 “We just need to see the tires on the car,” said Sheriff Lannister smiling , his white teeth flashing over his still full mug of coffee. “We found distinctive tire tracks outside the bar were Mr Bolton was last seen. They belong to a special kind of tire used on muscle cars.”

 

 

He leaned forward and grasped Arya’s wrist. Staring straight at her he said; “We just want to make sure no one could have used your husband’s car that night.”

 

 

Arya pulled back her hand with a sneer.

 

 

“Sure,” she kept the snarl from her voice. “We have nothing to hide officers.”

 

 

Arya opened the back door to the detached garage and waved the officers through. In the dim light the smell of spilled beer, long crushed out cigarettes and spicy chicken sauce premeated the nostrils.

 

 

Arya felt around the wall till she found and pressed the large button to activate the door that let out into the alley.

 

 

As the sun spilled in the officers exchanged looks.

 

 

In the middle of the garage stood Gendry’s project; a muscle car frame, up on blocks with the hood open and the engine suspended above on a chain.

 

 

No tires, no seats, it was even missing the hood to the trunk.

 

 

“How long has your husband been working on this car?” Deputy Tarth asked as Sheriff Lannister walked slowly around the body, stepping over empty beer bottles and avoiding oil stains.

 

 

Arya shrugged and wrapped her flannel shirt close to her body.

 

 

“A while,” she snapped. “I don’t come out here.”

 

 

Sheriff Lannister stopped by the work bench and examined the platter covered in chicken nugget crumbs and hot sauce.

 

 

Then he examined the crushed butts in the nearby over flowing ash tray and the ones ground into the cement.

 

 

Deputy Tarth walked over to the bin of rags and picked one out using the end of her pen.

 

 

It was covered in grime and motor oil.

 

 

“Are these all made of t-shirts?” she asked turning to Arya.

 

 

Arya shrugged.

 

 

“My husband is a very frugal man. And like I said, I don’t come out here. “

 

 

Sheriff Lannister was standing by the dirt patch that separated the opening of the garage and the pavement of the alley.

 

 

“Do you have a dog, Mrs Waters?” he called over his shoulder.

 

 

Arya shook her head, “There is a pack of dogs that wander around here at night. If you people did your job, you would have caught them by now as my husband has called and complained so many times!”

 

 

Arya squared her shoulders and stated; “You’ve seen what you wanted, now I am asking you to leave. I have the graveyard shift tonight and need to get to bed.”

 

 

“Of course, ma’am we will not delay you further” Sheriff Lannister said, walking briskly around the garage and out the door.

 

 

As Arya opened the front door Deputy Tarth handed her a business card and said, “If you hear of anything please do not hesitate to give us a call.”

 

 

Arya snatched it from her hand.

 

 

“If there’s any justice in this world, Ramsey Bolton will be chopped up in little bits and dumped in the woods for the wolves to eat. Good day officers.” Then she closed the door.

 

 

From the cover of the living room drapes Arya watched the cops get into their squad car and talk for a moment. Deputy Tarth said something to Sheriff Lannister who shook his head and waved whatever she had said away in dismissal. Deputy Tarth shrugged and the cruiser pulled away.

 

 

Arya turned from the window and ripped up the business card.

 

 

_Normal, act normal._

 

 

Arya Waters was known to be outspoken and kind of a bitch. She worked nights and as such her house always cluttered. Her husband was a mere grease monkey, far too uneducated to pull off a coverup of something so major as a murder.

 

 

This was partially true; Gendry had nothing to do with it.

 

 

Arya actually liked the dogs who wandered the alleys at night. They scared the coyotes out of the neighborhood and kept the lawn destroying moles and rabbits to a minimum. But mostly she had found them extremely helpful the night before. She had tossed them defrosted chicken nuggets and watched as they dance around in the mud, destroying any tire tracks her husband’s distinct car would have left.

 

***

 

Roose Bolton spent the next week on the local news pleading for anyone with information about his son’s disappearance to come forward.

 

 

He even rented a billboard out on the highway that sported a head shot of Ramsey at his wedding. Around his son’s ghastly smile and icy stare there was a tip line that promised $25,000 to anyone who’s information led the police to Ramsey’s whereabouts.

 

 

There were a few local theories; they mostly centered around Ramsey running afoul of drug dealers or doing something to the family business that caused his father to put a hit out on him.

 

 

Ms Poole had an air tight alibi and her son asked the police to stop looking for his dad because he was afraid they would find him and bring him back.

 

 

Everyone who was at the Water’s residence the night Jeyne was taken to the hospital was questioned. Everyone said the same thing; the men where in the garage, Mrs. Clegane and Mrs. Blackwater were at the emergency room with Ms. Poole and Mrs. Snow and Mrs. Waters were with the children.

 

 

They were all upstanding members of their community; Housewives. Mothers, and Caretakers. Service men and a Grease Monkey.

 

 

What could these middle class, ordinary people know about planning and carrying out the kidnapping and murder of a man of high standing like Ramsey Bolton?

 

 

They were neighbors, coworkers, scout leaders and PTA members.

 

 

To the police, they were no one special.

 

***

 

Sansa and Arya were in the check outline of the local market when they saw the tabloid.

 

 

From the cover Roose Bolton and his wife, TV chef and media personality “Fat” Walda Fey smiled and presented their new son to the camera.

 

 

 

Sansa studied the couple for a moment before turning back to her task of trying to find all the loose coupons that had spilled out of the envelope into the bottom of her purse. Arya looked away and mentally went over the supplies she would need for the Harvest Festival potluck at Margaery’s house the next weekend.

 

 

 

Later they drove passed by the billboard only to find that it now advertised a Sevenmas village outside of Last Hearth with real reindeer and the cheapest Sevenmas trees in the North.

 

 

 

That night a cold wind blew down from the North. The bitter air stole your breath and froze the ground solid.

 


	12. Hope Springs Eternal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very therapeutic story to write. Not the happiest, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheles.

 

The winter had been one of the worst on record. The temperature dropped so low at night that cars froze and pipes burst.

 

 

Sevenmas dinner at the Blackwater household was a welcome glowing becon in the darkness of the cold.

 

 

Sandor, Gendry, Bronn, and Jon took the elder children out to hunt deer in Wolfswood national park for the Sevenmas Eve feast.

 

 

Gendry was a little apprehensive allowing his girls to hunt, as arming little versions of his wife made him nervous.

 

 

Sandor had laughed off his worry till he observed how unlike the other children, the Waters twins did not hesitate to shoot at a target. He made a mental note to speak to Arya about the possibility that her beloved offspring would do very well in Special Forces. That is, if they could learn to shut their mouths and follow directions.

 

 

Bronn showed the children how to field dress a buck and impressively only one of his girls squealed at the sight of the guts spilling onto the ground.

 

 

“Aren’t we going to clean that up?” the girl asked pointing to the blood and left over bits they left on the forest floor.

 

 

“Don’t worry about that,” Jon had smiled after he managed to retrieve a rifle from the grasp of one of the Waters twins. “The wolves will feast upon that and there won’t be a trace come morning.”

 

 

Sandor smiled down at the girl and said; “Did you know all dogs can trace their lineage back to wolves?”

 

 

“Really?”

 

 

“Oh yes. The first men would feed the wolves and in exchange they would stay near the people and protect them from things in the forest.”

 

 

“What kind of things?” asked one of the Waters twins.

 

 

“Evil things!” laughed Bronn behind her making the girl jump, then giggle.

 

 

Jon and Sandor laughed and corralled the children back to the vehicles to bring the meat home.

 

*** 

 

With everyone gathered around a massive table plans for the coming year were shared.

 

 

 Sandor Clegane announced that Sansa had been accepted to the Law School at the University of Winterfell and he was taking early retirement to stay home and take care of the children.

 

 

Gendry spoke of going to Wintertown Community College and taking some courses in engineering.

 

 

Jon and Dany excitedly spoke of the trip to Slavers Bay where they planned to adopt an orphan from Meeren.

 

 

Margery and Bronn were planning to take their children to the amusement park in Maidenpool.

 

 

Jeyne stayed quiet, but watched her son play in the snow with Arya’s twins and the Clegane boys.

 

 

***

 

His name was Podrick Payne.

 

 

They met when Sansa and Margery had dragged Jeyne to the first farmers market of the season. Pod’s calm demeanor and sweet smile made Jeyne’s frozen heart melt.

 

 

He worked as a legal assistant to one of the partners in the law firm of Lannister, Martell and Daxos (specializing in injury, insurance and worker’s comp claims, yes we speak lower Valeryan).

 

 

Pod didn’t take her to Dorne, he didn’t have a house on the hill and he didn’t have old family money.

 

 

He did have a three bedroom, two bath bungalow on the other side of Arya's neighborhood and in the same school district as Sansa’s children.

 

 

It even had an above ground pool in the summer.

 

 

Pod played catch with Jeyne’s son and helped him with his home work. He never asked her to do anything and never assumed she owed him anything for his kind deeds.

 

 

Jeyne was in no rush to return to a serious relationship, but watching how happy her son was when Pod tossed him the ball made her believe that there was hope for happiness in the future.

 

***

 

On the night of the big Storms End verses Winterfell game, everyone piled onto the sofas and doubled up on the over stuffed chairs in Arya's living room.

 

 

She and Gendry relaxed on the couch while Bronn reclined on the love seat with Margery. Sansa, fresh from finishing her homework sat on Sandor's lap, while Dany perched on the arm of the over stuffed chair Jon occupied.

 

 

Arya excused herself during one of the commercial breaks to sneak a cigarette by the garage. She looked to the window of her children's room and felt comfort in the flicking blue light of a movie.

 

 

Breathing deep in the dark, she heard the rustle of something in alley and peered over the fence to find the dog pack rummaging through her trash cans for scraps.

 

 

"Sorry guys," she whispered at them. "I have no chicken nuggets for you tonight."

 

 

The dogs snapped and barked at each other as a mighty cheer erupted from her living room signaling that someone just scored.

 

 

Arya watched the pack close ranks and disappeared down the alley.

 

 

When she returned to her living room she found her friends and family excitingly talking about the last play.

 

 

Arya plopped down on the couch next to her husband who was arguing with Bronn over something she had missed.

 

 

She observed the people in the room; each one was special yet they all fit together. A symbiotic relationship as simple as a man sharing his dinner with a wolf and in turn the wolf keeping the shadows at bay.

 

 

Arya watched her pack; parents, PTA members, coaches, and scout leaders. Future lawyer, future parents, future engineer, and adventurers.

 

 

She leaned into Gendry and gave him a peck on the cheek. He raise an eyebrow as she had never liked public displays of affections.

 

 

Arya smiled up at him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

 

 

A warm breeze blew through the open window tasting of rain and sweet flowers.

 

 

Summer was coming and with it the future.

 

 


End file.
